Drilling apparatus and method

ABSTRACT

A method of increasing efficiency of a drilling tool comprising operating a drill bit at the end of a drilling pipe while monitoring vibrations at the drill bit face at the surface and varying the operating drilling conditions to decrease wear on the drill bit. A drilling apparatus comprising a drilling bit attached to a drilling tool section attached to a drilling pipe connected to a top drive, said top drive being provided with a plurality of sensor to monitor conditions at the drilling bit, said sensors being connected to a measuring device capable of filtering out background noise and monitoring vibrations at the drilling face.

PRIOR APPLICATION

This application is based on provisional application Ser. No. 60/774,762 filed Feb. 17, 2006.

STATE OF THE ART

The conditions under which a drilling tool operates are unpredictable and largely unknown. Therefore, tools are used on accelerometer mounted close to the drill bit to measure vibrations and the data is transferred to the surface by long wave radio means or mud pulsing technology. However, the data rates transmission from the drill bit area to the surface is very slow and several other tools are competing for space in the drilling section.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a drilling apparatus with means for improving drilling conditions.

It is another object of the invention to increasing drilling efficiency.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become obvious from the following detailed description.

THE INVENTION

The drilling apparatus of the invention is comprised of a drilling bit attached to a drilling tool section connected to a drilling pipe further connected to a top drive located at the ground surface, the top drive being provided with a plurality of sensors monitoring conditions at the drilling face connected to measuring device capable of filtering out background noise and monitoring vibration at the drilling face.

The drilling operator for gas and oil drilling is able to increase the overall life of the drilling apparatus and to reduce the overall time of drilling a complete by monitoring vibration to avoid excessive operating conditions. Normal drilling tool life is expected to be 50 to 200 hours. The vibration monitoring permits the drilling operator to observe sudden excessive drilling conditions and permit him to reduce parameters that he can control such as weight or drilling face on the drill bit or torque.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a schematic of one embodiment of the drilling apparatus of the invention.

The apparatus of FIG. 1 comprises a top drive (7) for the drill attached to the drilling pipe (8) which is connected to the drilling bit (5) by means of drilling tool section (6).

Acceleration sensor (1), (2) and (3) are mounted on the top drive (7) to continuously monitor conditions at the drill face. Sensors can be mounted in 3 directions (x, y, z). Monitored vibration will also be used to increase the life of the drilling tool. The sensors are connected to a measuring device (4) which measures the drilling conditions such as torque, speed and vibrations whereby the drilling operator can control the operating conditions. Measured drilling conditions are also monitored continuously.

The method of the invention of increasing drilling tool efficiency comprises operating a drill bit at the end of a drilling while monitoring vibrations at the drill bit face at the surface and varying the operating drilling conditions to decrease wear in the drill bit and increase tool life. This method increases the overall efficiency. For instance, a 20,000 foot hole could be drilled in fewer hours by decreasing the amount of time a drill had to be removed from the hole for repairs or by decreasing the amount of time a driller is using a worn drill bit. Sensitivity with the increase in length of the drill string would also be altered.

By correlating specific frequencies in the vibration signals with their kinematics, the drilling process can be controlled. Using special processing methods, the signal elements will be filtered out of the acceleration signals and evaluated to take into account the monitored process parameters to specify the condition of the drilling tools 5 and 6. This will give the drilling operator parameters on how the actual operating situation influences the condition of the drilling tools.

Various modifications of the apparatus and method of the invention may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention and it should be understood that the invention is intended to be limited only as defined in the appended claims. 

1. A method of increasing efficiency of a drilling tool comprising operating a drill bit at the end of a drilling pipe while monitoring vibrations at the drill bit face at the surface and varying the operating drilling conditions to decrease wear on the drill bit.
 2. A drilling apparatus comprising a drilling bit attached to a drilling tool section attached to a drilling pipe connected to a top drive, said top drive being provided with a plurality of sensor to monitor conditions at the drilling bit, said sensors being connected to a measuring device capable of filtering out background noise and monitoring vibrations at the drilling face.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein there are three monitoring devices to monitor torque, drill speed and vibration at the drill bit face. 